Why study air pollution ?

Causes health problems

Causes visibility problems
Causes agricultural and plant
damage
Causes degradation of buildings
Causes odors
Causes climate change
Various other reasons

In 1952, a week of intense fog and

smoke resulted over 4000 excesses
death in London

Los Angeles (1950s)

1948, 20 deaths and almost 6,000

illness for 4 day period of smog

Noontime, Donora,
Pennsylvania, October
29, 1948

Copyright Photo
Archive/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,
2001. All rights reserved

Hollywood Citizens News

Collection, Los Angeles Public
Library

Air Pollution: A Common Working Definition

Air pollution occurs when gases or aerosol

particles, emitted anthropogenically, build up in
concentrations sufficiently high to cause direct
or indirect damage to humans, plants, animals,
other life forms, ecosystems, structures, or
works of art.
Main things
Air pollution concentration is the important thing to know
Concentrations sufficiently high implies a concentration
threshold beyond which we can anticipate a realistic
possibility of damage to health, ecosystems, etc
Threshold is often also called a level of concern or
standard

mbient Air Quality Standards in India

The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act 1981 was enacted
by the Central Government with the objective of arresting the
deterioration of air quality.
It describes the main functions of the Central Pollution Control Board
(CPCB) as follows:

To advise the Central Government on any matter

concerning the improvement of the quality the air and
the prevention, control and abatement of air pollution.
To plan and cause to be executed a nation-wide
programme for the prevention, control and abatement
of air pollution.
To provide technical assistance and guidance to the
State Pollution Control Board.
To carry out and sponsor investigations and research
related to prevention, control and abatement of air
pollution.

Air Pollution Concentration

(Two main ways this is expressed)
Ambient air quality
standards, those that
deal with concentrations
of pollutants in the
outdoor atmosphere

Source performance
standards, those that
apply to emissions of
pollutants from specific
sources

Mass Per Unit Volume

Mass of air pollutant per cubic meter of air
Used for solid, liquid and gaseous air pollutants
Grams per cubic meter (g/m3)
Milligrams per cubic meter (mg/m3) = 0.001 g/m3

Parts Per Million (ppm)

of molecules of air pollutant per million molecules of
air
Used for gaseous air pollutants
1 part per billion (ppb) = 0.001 ppm
1 part per trillion (ppt) = 0.001 ppb = 1.0 10 -6 ppm

mass emissions per unit

of time or unit of
production, such as
grams per minute
kilograms of pollutant
per ton of product.

Express the following situations in terms of the air pollution

concentration (use metric units).
1. 500 mg of carbon monoxide in a 10 ft x 10 ft x 10 ft room
= 500mg/(3.048m)3=500 mg/28.317 m3 =
17.657 mg/m3

2.

10 milligrams of ozone in a 1000 cubic-meter warehouse

= 10 mg/1000 m3 = 0.01 mg/m3 = 10 g/m3

Coal- Fired Power plant problem

Typical coal burned in power plants has an energy contents of approximately
24 kJ/g and an average carbon content of about 62 percent. For almost all
new coal plants , Clean Air Act emission standards limit sulfur emissions to
260g of sulfur dioxide per million kJ of heat input to the plant (130 g of
element sulfur per 106 kJ). They also restrict particulate emissions to 13g/10 6
kJ. Suppose the average plant burns fuel with 2 percent sulfur content and 10
percent unburnable minerals called ash. About 70 percent of the ash is
released as fly ash, and about 30% settles out of the firing chamber and is
collected as bottom ash. Assume this is a typical coal plant with 3 unit
of heat energy required to deliver 1 unit of electrical energy.
(a)Per kilowatt-hour of electrical energy produced, find the emissions of
SO2, particulates and carbon (assume all of the carbon in the coal is
released to the atmosphere)
(b) How efficient must the sulfur emission control system be to meet sulfur
emission limitation?
(c) How efficient must the particulate control system be to meet the
particulate emission limits?

Adopted from :
National Ambient
air quality
monitoring
NAAQMS/ 35 /

version of one ambient air quality standards to other

Parts per million by volume is

where ci and c are moles per volume of

species i and air, respectively, at pressure
and temperature
Given a pollutant massp concentration
mi ; T
expressed
in g/m-3

where Mi is the molecular weight of

species i and c = p / RT.

If T is in Kelvin and pressure (p) in Pascal

Examples:
The 24 hour SO2 NAAQS is 365 g/m3 . Convert this to ppm at
T=298K and
P= 1 atm (1.0133105 Pa)

The phenomenon of air pollution involves a

sequence of events:
1. The generation of pollutants at and their release from
a source:
It involves everything that occurs before the pollutant is
released "up the stack" or "out the tailpipe. "
2. The transport, dispersion and chemical transformation in
and removal of species from the atmosphere:
This second area thus includes all the chemical and physical processes
that take place between the point of emission and ultimate removal
from
the atmosphere.
3. The effects of pollution on human beings, materials, and
ecosystems etc.

arbon Monoxide (CO)

is produced when the carbonaceous fuels are burned under less than ideal condi

0% of CO emission from the transportation sector.

emoglobin has an affinity to the CO than Oxygen

O readily binds to hemoglobin to form carboxyhemoglobin (COHb)
Oxides of Nitrogen (NO and NO2)
NOx is created in two ways:
1. Thermal Nox
It is created when nitrogen and oxygen in the combustion air are
heated to a high enough temperature (about 1000 K) to oxidize
Nitrogen.
2. Fuel Nox
It results from the oxidation of nitrogen compounds that are
chemically bound in the fuel molecules themselves

Sulfur Oxides (SO2)

Sulfur dioxide (S02) is formed from the oxidation of sulfur contained in
fuel as well as
from certain industrial processes that utilize sulfur-containing
compounds.
Anthropogenic emissions of S02 result almost exclusively from
stationary point sources.
Coal combustion has traditionally been the largest stationary fuel
combustion source, although industrial and residential coal use has
Organic
declined. Compounds
Organic air pollutants are sometimes divided according to volatile
organic compounds (VOCs) and particulate organic compounds (POCs)
A major source of airborne organic compounds is the emissions from
motor vechiles

Physical
Properties

Concentration Anthropoge
Level
nic sources

Natural
sources

SO2

Colorless gas with

irritating, pungent
odor; detectable
by taste at levels
of 0.3 to I ppm;
highly soluble in
water

Global
background
concentration
levels in the
range 0.04 to 6
ppb

Atmospheric
oxidation of
organic sulfides

NO

Colorless,
odorless gas;
nonflammable
and slightly
soluble in
water; toxic

Global
Combustion,
background
(Automobile)
level from 10 to
100 ppt; urban
levels have
been observed
as large as 500
ppb

NO2

Reddish-orangebrown gas with

sharp, pungent
odor; toxic and

Global
Combustion
background
level from 10 to
500 ppt; urban

Fuel
combustion in
stationary
sources;
industrial
process
emissions;
metal and
petroleum
refining

Bacterial
action;
lightning

Physical
Properties

Concentration Anthropoge
Level
nic sources

Natural
sources

CO2

Colorless,
odorless,
nontoxic gas
moderately
soluble in water

Global
background
concentration
has increased
from 290 ppm
in 1900 to
about 345 ppm
in 1985

Combustion
of fossil fuels

CO

Colorless,
odorless,
flammable,
toxic gas,
slightly soluble
in water

Global average
concentration
of 0.09 ppm;
urban levels in
the vicinity of
heavily
traveled
roadways can
exceed 100
ppm

Combustion
of fossil fuels

Atmospheric
oxidation of
methane and
other
biogenic
hydrocarbons

O3

Colorless, toxic
gas, slightly
soluble in water

Global
background
concentrations
range from 20

Formed as a
secondary
pollutant from
atmospheric

transport
from
stratosphere
to

SMOG
Smog is caused by large amounts of coal burning in an area caused by a
mixture of smoke, sulphur dioxide and other components

SMOG
Smog is a type of air pollution, derived from emission from internal
combustion engines and industrial fumes that react in the
atmosphere with sunlight to form secondary pollutants that also
combine with the primary emissions to form photochemical smog

Characteristic coloration for smog in California in the beige cloud bank

behind Golden Gate Bridge. The brown coloration is due to the NOx in
the photochemical smog.

NOx+ VOCs+
Sunlight
Photochemical smog

Formation of NO during combustion:

N2 + O2 - 2NO
2NO+02 2NO2

Photochemical reaction:
NO2 +h NO+ O

(Photolysis)

Where h represents the photon (with wavelength < 0.39m)

O + O2 +M O3 + M
Where M represent the Molecule, whose presence is necessary to
absorb excess energy from the reaction

Ozone can convert NO back to NO2

O3 + NO NO2 + O2

Air Pollution and Meteorology

Adiabatic lapse rate

Atmospheric stability
Temperature Inversion
Atmospheric Stability and Mixing Depth

Plume Classification

Fanning

Fumigation

Coning

Looping

Lofting

The Point Source Gaussian Plume Model